LAWRENCEVILLE, GEORGIA – The University of Texas at Tyler tennis programs each fell by a score of 4-0 to a top ranked Georgia Gwinnett program in rainy conditions on Monday afternoon.
The Patriots women took on the Bearcats and managed to close out their contest before the rains set in.
Delara Zamani and
Leony Deutschmann paired up in the #1 doubles slot and fell by a score of 2-6.
Chloe Chawner and
Brooklyn Ross paired up in the number two slot, but also fell by a score of 3-6. That gave the doubles point over to the Bearcats, and they held a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
Georgia Gwinnett was able to take home three consecutive singles matches and claim the 4-0 victory just as rain delayed the matches. In the #4 singles slot,
Tanvikhaa Saravanan fought admirably, but ultimately went down by scores of 1-6, 0-6. Deutschmann slid into the #1 singles spot in the match for the first time this spring, but Maria Genovese of Georgia Gwinnett got the better end of the match with scores of 6-2, 6-1.
Kanika Sivaraman stepped into the #2 singles spot and battled it out with Selina Pichler. Pichler won the first set 6-1 and after a Sivaraman rally, took the second set by a score of 6-3 and gave the Bearcats the 4-0 victory.
Ross and Chawner battled in the #3 and #5 singles spots, respectively, and were in tight battles before the rain forced the match to end. Ross took on Iryna Lysykh and battled her way to a win in set one by s score of 7-5. In the second set, things were tied at 2-2 before the rains came. For Chawner, she took on Tereza Koplova and was locked in a tight contest. Koplova took the first set by a score of 6-4, but Chawner kept the second set close at 2-3 before the match was shut down.
On the men's side, Georgia Gwinnett took the doubles point as well, but not without a little bit of trouble.
Safar Rasulov and
Egor Shestakov paired up for the #2 doubles slot, but fell by a score of 6-2.
In the #1 doubles match, the fearsome duo of
Joaquin Bianchi and
Gonzalo Fernandez Gil paired up to take on the number one ranked doubles pair in all of NAIA in Valentino Caratini and Agustin Tamagnone. In a tight contest, it was the duo of Bianchi and Fernandez Gil taking home the victory in a 7-6 (8-6) win. That handed the duo from Georgia Gwinnett their first loss of the season and gave UT Tyler a chance at the doubles point.
In another tightly contested doubles match,
Moritz Mayer and
Leon Sell paired up in the #3 doubles position. The match went to a tiebreaker just as the Bianchi / Fernandez Gil match, but the Bearcats prevailed by a score of 7-6 (7-3) to take a 1-0 lead to the singles portion of the contest.
As the rains came down, the Patriots men were unable to finish before a delay. After the delay, it was all Georgia Gwinnett as they came away with three consecutive victories to finish off the match.
Fernandez Gil battled against Matthias Haim but dropped both sets by scores of 0-6, 1-6. Bianchi took on Alex Gurmendi in the #2 singles position, but also fell by scores of 1-6, 0-6. In the #3 singles position,
Safar Rasulov needed to spark a rally for the Patriots. Matching up against Valentino Caratini, Rasulov fought hard, but ultimately dropped the match by set scores of 1-6, 3-6 to give the Bearcats the 4-0 victory.
The Patriots will now head down to Saint Leo, Florida to take on Saint Leo in a duals match that will begin at 2 p.m. On the women's side, the Lions are ranked #8 in the latest edition of the ITA rankings, while the men's program is ranked #9 in the country. That match will be the second of four matches in four days for the Patriots.
